This story is copyrighted to
myself, its
writer, and cannot be copied in any way shape or form without my
express written
permission. This story is fiction and any resemblance to persons or
events are
purely coincidental. If you are underage or don’t like stories of
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nature, please leave now. Otherwise, please enjoy the story.

Alex left his office
feeling sad. He went
over to 4th company commanders’ office.

Major Brenton was sat in
his office and saw
Lieutenant Colonel Mills come in.

“Evening
Sir,” Andrew said.

“Hi, Andrew. I need
to speak to you, mate,”
Alex said.

“What’s
happening?” Andrew said.

“Just had Colonel
Rees on the phone. Former
4th company Sergeant Tim Bonner has died in a lorry crash
this
morning,” Alex said.

“Oh bloody hell,
Tim was such a nice man,
full of fun,” Andrew said.

“Well, I think the
lads will like to know,”
Alex said.

“Yeah, I will get
Simon to get them into the
parade room now,” Andrew said.

Ten minutes later

The men of 4th
company were all
assembled in the parade room and Simon shouted attention, as Lieutenant
Colonel
Mills and Major Brenton walked in.

“At ease,”
Major Brenton shouted.

“Right guys,
Lieutenant Colonel Mills has some
news he needs to share with you guys,” Major Brenton said.

Alex took a deep breath
and said, “this news
I have to share is sad news, particularly for long standing members of
this
unit. I have been informed by Colonel Tom Rees that this morning, on
the M6 motorway,
former unit Sergeant Tim Bonner was fatally injured in a road
accident.”

Some of the long standing
members of the
unit were shell shocked and Simon was in tears.

Simon stood in front of
the men and said,
“guys, I had the pleasure of working alongside Tim for a
good few years. I had
the difficult task of replacing him as the unit sergeant. Tim was a
huge
support to me and I still kept in touch with him regularly. He was a
fun loving
man, and I know he loved his family to no end, so guys let’s
remember Tim for that
cheeky sergeant we all loved.”

“Thank you, Simon.
As you can imagine, this
news has hit his family really hard,” Alex said.

Andrew also said,
“guys, I also the had pleasure,
like Simon, of working under Tim Bonner. Just like Simon, I found him a
great
support. I remember when I had a problem and was in serious trouble, I
had
the support of Tim all the way through. Without his support, I
don’t think I
would have got through that time. After that problem was sorted,
it was Tim who
pushed me to move up the ranks. And just like Simon, I was soon passing
out as a
sergeant and then came my move to a different unit. But even then, he
often phoned
me to see how I was doing. When he left the Army, I was surprised. But
after
speaking to him, I realised he had made the decision for his family and
I supported
him. I feel numb tonight, and I can imagine everyone who has had the
pleasure of
working with Tim, over the years, will feel the same.”

“Unit
dismissed,” Andrew shouted.

Alex walked out and went
home feeling lost.

Ben knew he had to phone
Daffyd and Brad.

Ben tapped in their
number, and Darren
answered the phone, “good Evening, BD’s bar and grill."

“Tim was killed in
a lorry crash on the M6
this morning. Tom is up there with Alice,” Ben said.

“Oh god, poor
Alice. I can only imagine what
state she is in,” Daffyd said.

“Yeah, Tom said she
is putting on a great
show for Greg,” Ben said.

Brad was looking and
said, “will you tell me
what’s happened?”

Daffyd said, “sorry
babes, its Tim Bonner. He
has been killed.”

Brad said, “oh god,
no.”

Ben said, “I let
you guys get on. I had to tell
you as I knew how well you two got on, Daffyd.”

“Yeah, the best
sergeant I ever had the
pleasure of working with,” Daffyd said.

Brad smiled and said,
“yeah, me too.”

“Thanks for letting
us know, mate” Daffyd
said.

“No problem, I will
let you know when the
funeral is, mate” Ben said.

“Yes, please do so.
We can come home,” Daffyd
said.

“Ok Mate,”
Ben said.

Daffyd put the phone down
and broke down.
Brad pulled his partner into a hug and said, “I feel like I have
lost a member
of my family.”

“Yeah, he was such
a fun loving guy," Daffyd
said.

Ben felt lonely in the
house without anyone
there. He took hold of his keys and headed out f the door and into his
car. Ben
drove off and headed up to his parents house. Sarah and Joe were sat
watching
Coronation Street, on the TV. When they saw Ben’s car pull up,
Sarah noticed that,
unusually, Ben had no one else with him.

Ben opened the door and
Sarah said, “hi Son,
no Tom tonight?”

“No mum, he is up
in Aberdeen with Greg and
Jon. You remember Tim, Greg’s dad, don’t you?” Ben
said.

“Yes, we met him at
your and at Rhys’s
wedding, why?” Sarah asked.

“Well, he died this
morning in a crash on
the M6,” Ben said.

“Oh no, that is
sad,” Sarah said.

“Yeah, he was my
unit sergeant, when I was
injured out in Afghanistan. He is a long standing friend of Tom and
me,” Ben
said.

“So, how come you
haven’t gone up to
Aberdeen with Tom?” Joe said.

“I am too busy in
work. I can’t get the time
off,” Ben said.

“Oh ok,”
Sarah said.

Ben sat with his parents
for a while, when
the local TV news came on.

5 people killed and 7
injured in motorway pile
up, came the headline.

Ben watched the report,
as they showed the
terrible carnage on the motorway. He then spotted Tim’s lorry and
said, “shit
that is the crash.”

Joe said, “what,
son?”

“This is the crash
that Tim died in. That
blue lorry was his,” Ben said.

“Are you sure
son?” Joe said.

“Yeah Dad,
that’s the firm he worked for and
it was on the M6 he died,” Ben said.

Joe turned the news
program off and said,
“that motorway has always been a death trap.”

“Yeah, it has over
the years,” Ben said.

The next day

Ben picked up a local
newspaper, on his way
home to Coninton. He read the headlines, put it in the back of the car
and
headed home.

Ben was near home when
his phone rang. Ben
ignored the phone, as he had left his hands free kit at home.

Ben spotted a lay-by
coming up, so he pulled
over, switched off his engine, and picked up his phone to see
“Alex” on it.

Ben rung Alex and said,
“hi mate, you just
ring me?”

“Yeah, I called at
your house, but you
weren’t there,” Alex said.

“No, I spent last
night at my parents,” Ben
said.

“The reason i
called was, that Tom has left
a file i need in his home office,” Alex said.

“i am about 5-10
minutes away,” Ben said.

“Ok Ben, i will
wait for you then,” Alex said.

“Ok Alex,”
Ben said.

Ben rejoined the road and
headed home. He
arrived at his house and saw Alex waiting for him.

Ben got out of his car
and said, “Hi Alex,
sorry i wasn’t here.”

“No worries
Ben,” Alex said.

Ben opened the door and
went into the
hallway and said, “this is Toms office. Let’s look and see
if we can find the
file.”

Alex followed Ben into
the former dining
room, which Tom uses as his home office. Alex spotted the file straight
away and
said, “this is the file I need, Ben.”

“Ok mate,”
Ben said.

Alex said, “you ok
Ben? You seem upset?”

“Yeah, Tim’s
death has hit me bad, to be
honest. I worked alongside him for a few years, and he was a good
friend to me,
and now he has gone,” Ben said.

“Yeah, Tim was a
good guy. I left the
barracks last night feeling really lost, particularly after announcing
his death
to 4th company,” Alex said.

“So when is Tom
back?” Alex asked.

“Well, actually he
is on his way home as we
speak. He has to be back tomorrow, as the barrack commander at Coninton
starts his
job,” Ben said.

“Yeah, he is. I met
him a few times. He
doesn’t suffer fools, though. He's just like Tom, so they should
get on ok,” Alex said.

“Yeah, Tom is
looking forward to working
with Leon,” Ben said.

Tom arrived at his house
a little while
later.

“Hi Babes, I am
home,” Tom shouted, as he
walked in.

“You silly
bugger,” Ben said laughing.

Tom walked over and
kissed Ben and said, “it’s
good to be home.”

“I take it that Jon
stayed then?” Ben said.

“Yeah, he point
blank refused to leave Greg,”
Tom said.

“I didn’t
think he would, to be honest,” Ben
said.

“No, I didn’t
expect him to either,” Tom said.

“How’s Alice
holding up?” Ben said.

“Well, she is
trying to be brave for Greg,”
Tom said.

“Yeah, I thought
that when I spoke to her
last night,” Ben said.

“Oh, how did Daffyd
and Brad take it?” Tom
said.

“To be honest,
Daffyd took it quite badly,”
Ben said.

“Yeah, they worked
with Tim for a long time
and they were really close,” Tom said.

“yeah,I am finding it hard to imagine Tim not being around
anymore. To be
honest, you know we have lost good friends before. But for some reason,
this has
hit me really bad,” Ben said.

“Yeah, it is so
sad. He was so full of life,
and I have seen so much crap over the last few years. It is so hard to
carry on,
to be honest,” Tom said.

A few days later

Alice Bonner had listened
to her late
husband’s wishes. She organised for his funeral to take place at
St Luke’s
church, in the small village of Cheedam. The funeral was a full
military honours
service, at the request of Alice.

The current men of 4th
company,
including Major Andrew Brenton and Sgt Simon Tyler, carried out the
guard of
honour for their former colleague.

Bradley Evans and Daffyd
Lewis had flown in
a few days earlier. Lieutenant Colonel Alex Mills and his wife Lisa and
Colonel
Jonathan Harris, also attended. Alex was also surprised to see former
Colonel
Rhydian Thomas had flown home from Canada, where he is now an officer
in the
mounted police.

Rev. Kenneth Granger held
the service.

Colonel Tom Rees and his
partner Ben
Andrews and their son, Jon Taylor Rees, joined Alice and her son Greg,
and Tim’s
mum, Ceinwen Bonner.

Rev. Granger stood up and
said, “ladies and
gentlemen, we are gathered today to say a fond farewell to Sergeant Tim
Bonner. Many of the people who are here to
pay respects to him, worked with Tim when he was a serving officer in 4th
company, based at our local barracks. I now ask Colonel Thomas
Rees to
say a few words.”

Tom walked up and said,
“Tim Bonner was not
just a person who I had the pleasure of being second in command to, but
over the
years he became a close personalfriend
to my husband and I. Tim was a family man, through and through, and his
love for
his wife, Alice, and his son, Gregory, never left him. He lived life to
the fullest,
whether out in Afghanistan or home in Cheedam, everyone knew that if
you felt
down, a few minutes in Tim’s company and you would be full of the
joys of spring
again. I will miss him terribly, but I know his legacy at 4th
company
will be felt for years to come. Sergeant Tim Bonner, rest in peace my
friend. He is
gone, but never forgotten. Now, ladies and gentlemen, at the request of
Tim, i ask
you to join us in singing the Welsh
National Anthem (click to hear)

To
the ears of her patriots how charming still seems The
music that flows in her streams

My
country tho' crushed by a hostile array,

The
language of Cambria lives out to this day;

The
muse has eluded the traitors' foul knives,

The
harp of my country survives.

Ben was finding it hard
to sing, as he
couldn’t understand the Welsh words, but was surprised that Tom
knew every word,
and was singing. Jon and Greg were also singing, and most of the
congregation
were singing.

After the song, Ben
looked at Tom and said,
“wow, I didn’t know you spoke Welsh.”

Tom laughed and said,
“believe me, you cannot
be brought up in Wales, and not learn the National Anthem. It is
drummed into you
from a young age, and actually I can speak Welsh. I went to a Welsh
school.”

Ben laughed and said,
“I have no idea of the
words to the English Anthem. I know it's God Save the Queen, but
that’s about it,”
Ben said.

“Different
cultures, babes,” Tom said.

“Yes, I
guess,” Ben said.

Reverend Granger said,
“now, I ask one of
Tim’s former commanding officers, retired Colonel Bradley Evans,
to say a few
words.”

Brad walked up and said,
“I had the pleasure
of working alongside Tim while I was commanding officer at 4th
company. I got to know Tim well, over the years, and he was a person
you could go
to if you needed cheering up, like Tom said earlier. He also was a
person you
could talk to, if you had a problem, and sometimes he came up with a
good idea. I
remember when Corporal Lewis Hobbs quit, and we needed to replace him
fast. I had two people, who were, at the
time, Lance Corporals, and who were equally qualified to take the
promotion. I went to
Tim and asked who he thought I should choose. He went through all the
pros and
cons of both candidates, and after three
hours, said, "I have no idea."So he put both names into his hat and
picked out Tom
Rees. Now, ladies and gentlemen, lets listen to a song that Tim loved,“Let
It Be,” by the Beatles.” (click
to hear)

Tom smiled and whispered,
“I never knew
that.”

Ben laughed and said,
“I did. I remember Tim told
me once.”

The men of 4th
company carried
the coffin out of the church and the family and friends followed
behind, as they
walked up the hill to the graveside. Major Brenton called the men
to arms and a
three gun salute fired. The coffin, draped in the Welsh flag, was
lowered in
grave as the bugle played blasted out the last post.

Alice and Greg both
dropped earth into the
grave, and Tim’s mum, Ceinwen, walked up and said, “goodbye
son.”

Tom was in tears as he
walked up and
dropped some earth in, and said, “goodbye, old friend.”

A few weeks later

Things were starting to
get back to normal
after Tim’s death.

Tom was in his office at
the new Non
operational unit headquarters barracks, at Weston Hill. Tom’s
unit was moved
here, as they needed the space at Coninton for 4 new units, who were
moving there
from Weston Hill, a non operational unit base. Weston Hill is 4
miles away from Coninton, so the traveling wasn’t that bad. Also
based here, is
the royal military police, so Tom sees his former nemesis, Colonel
Darren
Thompson from time to time. The base is smaller than Coninton, and Tom
feels it
is more like Cheedam, with a more community feel.

Tom was going through
paperwork, that his
two Lieutenant Colonels had sent him. Tom was feeling more and more
isolated from
the frontline of the Family Support Unit. He felt that maybe the time
has come
for him to leave the Family Support Unit.

Tom left the barracks
later that day, and
was reading the local newspaper. Tom turned the page to the situations
vacant
page, and spotted a job with The Royal British Legion. They were
looking for a
support officer to head up a team of volunteer supporters, for military
families. Tom’s unit works alongside the legion and he knew they
were a
fantastic organisation to work with.

Ben arrived later and saw
Tom looking at
the paper

“Hi baby,”
Ben said.

“Hey sexy,”
Tom said smiling.

“What’s that
you are reading?” Ben said.

“Well you know, I
told you last week i have
had a enough feeling bored stiff with all the paperwork and wanted to
go back
on the frontline so to speak?”

“Yeah, why?”
Ben said.

“Well, look at this
and tell me honestly what
you think,” Tom said.

Ben read the advert and
said, “wow, a job
made in heaven for you.”

“Do you think i
should apply for it then?”
Tom asked.

“Yes, I do,”
Ben said.

Tom wrote out his CV, and
gave Bradley's
address in Spain, for a reference. He also put Alex’s name down
for a second
one. Tom posted the application the next morning, and headed off to the
barracks. He phoned General Harris.

“Good morning,
Tom,” General Harris said.

“Good morning, sir.
I need to speak to you
about something. I thought I had better let you know, i have applied
for a job
with the royal legion, and if i get that job, I will be leaving, not
just the unit,
but the Army, sir,” Tom said.

“Oh, can i ask you
why?” General Harris said.

“To be honest, sir,
I have loved my position
here at the Family Support Unit, but recently, particularly since we
moved here, I
have felt isolated from the day to day stuff the unit is involved in
and i
don’t like that,” Tom said.

Three weeks later

The whole of the Family
Support Unit were
assembled at Coninton barracks as their commanding officer, Colonel Tom
Rees,
called them to order.

Ben was standing there
watching as Tom said,
“ladies and gentlemen, I have been proud over the last few years
to serve as
your commanding officer. I wanted to call you here today to thank each
and
every one of you for all the hard work you put in day to day. Some of
you might
already know, but i have an announcement to make. It is with a hard
heart and
sadness, that I have to tell you. As from 4pm this afternoon, I will
stand
down as your commanding officer and will. in 2 days. leave the
military. I have
been very proud to serve my country, and in particular, the Family
Support Unit.
I have also got another announcement to make, which only myself and
General
Harris, know at this moment. That is, that the new commanding officer
of the Family Support Unit will be, with a promotion to Colonel with
immediate effect,
is Colonel Alex Mills. I hope you all support Alex the same way you
have me over
the years. Oh, and by the way guys, I will still be watching you as I
will be
taking up a job as a support officer to the Royal British legion.

Alex was gobsmacked and
Nick smiled and
shook his hand and said, “the right man for the job.”

“Thanks
Nick,” Alex said.

Alex walked up and said,
“ I have had the
pleasure of working with Tom since he joined the then Family liaison
ops unit. I,
for one, will miss him but I know he will be at the end of a phone,
should I need
him. Now ladies and gentlemen, let's show our apprehension to Colonel
Tom Rees
with a round of applause.”

Tom was in tears as he
waved and as he walked
away from the unit, and into Coninton Barracks for his final debrief of
Alex and
Nick.

“Alex, I wish you
all the luck for the
future and I hope you enjoy the command of this unit, as I have had for
the last
few years,” Tom said with tears rolling down his face.

“Tom, I am really
going to miss you and I
wish you all the best,” Alex said.

Two days later

Tom went to his car
and drove out of
Weston Hill, as the young private on the gate opened the gate and
saluted. Tom
saluted him back and drove off as a civilian. Tom drove down the road
and
pulled up outside Coninton Barracks, for a few minutes, and watched as
a unit was
getting prepared to ship out to Afghanistan. He remembered how he
felt, all
those years ago, when he and Matthew headed out for the final time. Tom
felt
tears forming in his eyes, and started his car up and drove home to a
welcoming
committee.

Ben had organised a
party, and had invited
all the usual suspects.

Tom was shocked when he
saw Brad and Daffyd
sat there.

“What are you guys
doing here?” Tom asked.

“Come on, when have
you ever known us to
miss a party?” Daffyd said laughing.

“Yeah, but coming
from Spain, just for a
party, is a bit extreme” Tom said.

“Well, actually we
have sold the place out
there, and we are setting up a restaurant over here,” Brad said.

“Oh, that’s
great,” Tom said.

“So, how does it
feel to be retired Colonel
Tom Rees now then?” Daffyd said.

“Well, it
hasn’t sunk in yet, but it will, and
I know it is the right decision for me,” Tom said.

“Yeah, I felt that
way when I left,” Brad
said.

“Yeah, you just
know when it’s time to move
on, and I think this new job was made for me,” Tom said.

“Yeah, it sounds
just up your street,” Daffyd
said.

“So, where is your
new restaurant?” Tom said.

“Well, we are still
looking, but it will be
local, as we have moved back into our old house. We rented it, out as
you knew,”
Daffyd said.

A few days later

Tom had a few days off
before starting his
new job. With his husband Ben, they were spending some time with
Tom’s mum,
Lucy, in south Wales. Lucy had sold the former family home, recently.
She felt
it was too big just for her. Lucy had moved into a two bedroom
apartment, which
had been built on top of the old coal mine that once dominated the
village that
Tom had grown up in. Tom and Ben were walking towards the usual
pilgrimage to
St John’s churchyard. They walked up to Matthews’s grave
and placed flowers on
it. Tom said, “well Matt, I finally got out, mate”.

Tom and Ben placed
flowers of the adjoining
grave of Julie. Then they walked over and placed some on Tom’s
beloved Dad's
grave.

Tom and Ben then walked
up to the hill
overlooking the village and Tom said, “you know, Ben, I feel like
i was meant to
read that paper and take this opportunity to get out.”